Visit verification method and system

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a system and method for tracking clients as they visit the locations of various recipients. Clients are provided with access to telephones and identification devices which the client uses to communicate with a remote computer. Information is communicated as to the clients location, the time of the clients visit to that location, and other types of information, such as to a service provided at the location. Location information may be provided by automatic number identification, wireless phone location information, or a global position device. The computer uses information received during the communication to identify and authenticate the client making the communication and the location of the client at the time of the communication. Authentication is accomplished by obtaining unique biometric parameters from a client and comparing those to biometric parameters in a database. Biometric data can include a voice print sample, or a finger or retinal print electronically transmitted to the remote computer. Because each of these identifiers results from a physiological characteristic which is unique to the client, the system assures that the identified client is the client making the communication.

This application claims the benefit of Provisional Application No.60/081,896 filed Apr. 15, 1998.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to a system and method for tracking the activityof caller/clients visiting recipients, more particularly, the inventionrelates to a system and method for communicating with a remotecaller/client and then identifying details of a caller/clients visitincluding such details as identifying the caller/client and thecaller/client's location.

2. Description of Related Art

Many businesses provide products and services requiring that employeesvisit the recipients of the products and services. For instance, manyhealth care providers send nurses to the homes of patients. Similarly,parcel delivery services deliver parcels directly to businesses andindividuals. These businesses will frequently benefit from tracking whentheir employees arrive at and depart from particular locations.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,183 to Katz discloses a computer system forrecording remotely, through a telephone network, the arrival anddeparture times of field based employees at various work sites. Thesystem detects from a calling employee automatic number identificationdata (ANI) and further accepts personal identification codes from thecaller. The ANI is used to identify the calling telephone.

Personal identification codes which are manually entered into a keypadcan be entered by any individual. Accordingly, mere receipt of amanually entered personal identification code does not assure that theperson entering the personal identification code is the person assignedto the personal identification code.

An ANI identifies the phone which made an incoming call. When the phoneis a standard land line phone, the phone identity can be used toidentify the address where the phone is located. However, if the phoneused to make the incoming call is a cellular phone, the ANI alone cannotbe used to determine the location of the phone.

When the caller/client is provided with or has access to a telephone, asystem and method for monitoring caller/clients is needed which canaccurately identify a caller/client making the phone call and canidentify the location of the phone call when the phone call is placedfrom a wireless phone, such as an analog or digital cellular phone, or aphone communicating directly through a satellite. However, if thecaller/client is provided with a global position sensor type devicewhich is capable of periodically recording the position of the device,it is also desirable to provide the device with the ability toaccurately identify the presence of the caller/client at each recordedposition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for tracking a caller/client is disclosed. In one embodimentthe method comprises the act of receiving a phone call from thecaller/client. In another embodiment the caller/client may be providedwith a global position sensor recording device. In either embodiment,the method also comprises the act of receiving from the caller/client, abiometric identifier resulting from a unique physiologicalcharacteristic of the caller. The method further comprises the act ofcomparing the biometric identifier with a client database correlatingclients with their physiological characteristics. The method alsocomprises the act of selecting which of the physiologicalcharacteristics in the client database corresponds to the caller/clientbiometric identifier to identify the client.

In a particular embodiment of this invention, the method comprises theact of receiving a wireless phone call from a caller. The method alsocomprises the acts of identifying a caller/client geographic location ofthe phone call and comparing the caller/client geographic location witha database correlating addresses with geographic locations. The methodfurther comprises the act of selecting from among the geographiclocations included in the database the geographic location correlatedwith the caller/client geographic location to obtain an address.

The method of this invention also comprises the acts of receiving and/orrecording a biometric identifier of the caller/client and identifyingthe origin of the phone call.

The system of this invention includes location identification mechanismfor recording locally recording or transmitting and then recording thelocation of a caller/client, and a caller/client identificationmechanism which will only indicate the presence of the caller/client ata specific location when the caller/client is physically present at thatspecific location. More particularly, the location identificationmechanism may include a telephone accessed at the current location ofthe caller/client, or a global positioning sensor carried by thecaller/client, and a biometric identifier sensing device accessible tothe caller/client at the caller/clients current location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an environment for practicing the current invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer configured to practice thecurrent invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates software modules associated with an embodiment of thecurrent invention.

FIGS. 4A-B illustrate a data structure for incoming packets fromrespectively a fixed and a cellular phone.

FIG. 5 illustrates a data structure for a client database.

FIG. 6 illustrates a data structure for a geometric parameter database.

FIGS. 7A-B illustrate a data structures for respectively Telco fixed andcellular databases.

FIG. 8 illustrates a data structure for a recipient database.

FIG. 9 illustrates a report generated according an embodiment of thecurrent invention.

FIGS. 10A-B illustrate alternate embodiments for locating the origin ofa cellular call.

FIGS. 11A-C show the process flow associated with identifying a caller,a location of the call, and the duration of the stay of the caller atthe location according to an embodiment of the current invention.

FIG. 12 shows another environment for practicing the current inventionusing global positioning technology.

FIG. 13A shows a caller/client provided with a time and positionrecording unit in accordance with the embodiment of this invention usingglobal positioning technology.

FIG. 13B is a block diagram of the time and position recording unit ofFIG. 13A.

FIG. 14 is a time and position report based on the use of globalpositioning technology in accordance with this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention relates to a system and method for tracking caller/clientsas they visit the locations of various recipients. In accordance withthis invention, caller/clients either have access to telephones or areprovided with a global position sensor device, and are provided withidentification devices which the caller/client can use to communicatewith a remote computer, either through a telephone system, or bydownloading the global position sensor device to the computer through atelephone system or at the site of the computer. The computer usesinformation received during the communication to identify andauthenticate the caller/client making the communication and the locationof the caller/client.

Caller/clients can use telephones and identification device tocommunicate identifiers which are unique to the client to the computer.The identifiers can result from some unique physiological characteristicof the client. For instance, the client can use a telephone to transmita voice print. Similarly, the client can use an identification device totransmit a finger print or a retina print. The computer can use theseidentifiers to identify the client. Because each of these identifiersresults from a physiological characteristic which is unique to theclient, the system assures that the identified client is the clientmaking the communication. When provided with a global position sensordevice, the device will be provided with an identification devicesimilar to that provided for use with a telephone system.

The system can include logic for identifying the address of a wirelessphone at the time a phone call is placed. The logic does not require anautomatic number identification (ANI). In fact, the ANI of a wirelessphone may not provide any location information because the phone itselfis mobile. Instead the logic uses information provided by the wirelesscarrier to identify the origin of the call with regard to thereceiver/transmitter stations receiving the call. Accordingly, theclient can be tracked when the client is using a wireless phone tocommunicate with the computer.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for use of the present invention. The systemincludes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) for interfacing acomputer 120 with wireless phone 112 and/or a standard plain oldtelephone service (POTS) phone 114. The PSTN includes wired segments118A and wireless segments 118B. The wired segment includes centraloffices 130A-B connected over a digital backbone 124C, such as theintegrated services digital network (ISDN). Central office 130B isconnected by modem link 132 to computer 120. Central office 130A isconnected by analog subscriber line 124A to fixed phone 114 located atcall site 150A. The wireless segment 118B includes a plurality of cells128A-B each represented by a transceiver. Each of the cells is connectedby a wired/wireless link 124B to central office 130A. Communicationsbetween cellular phone 112 at call site 150B and computer 120 are madeacross both wired and wireless segments of the PSTN. Either the fixed orwireless phone may provide an identification device. Biometric inputdevice 116 is shown connected to fixed phone 114.

The computer 120 includes a timer 138 and a storage device 136. Thestorage device includes reports 122, databases 134, and program code 146for implementing processes 140. The reports may include payroll reports.The databases may include employee biological parameters, geographicdata, and payroll information.

The computer implements processes 140 for determining on the basis ofinformation from a packet 144 received from the client: who called, whenthey called, where they called from, what they did when they were at thelocation, and how long they were at the location. Caller/clients 11A-Bare shown with their respective unique biometric parameters 142A-B. Eachof the clients has a unique biometric parameter. The biometricparameters may include, for example: voice print, finger print, irisprint, etc.

Biometric input device 116 allows a client to enter biometric parametersother than voice. For instance, the identification device can be used toelectronically transmit information concerning the client's fingerprintsand/or iris print. The identification devices can be included directlyon the phones 112-114 or included in a base station included at therecipient's location. The identification device can also be carried bythe clients 11A-B and include an interface which allows theidentification device to communicate with the PSTN 118.

In operation, the caller/clients 110A/B place a call upon arrival at therespective call sites 150A-B. The call site may be the home of a personwho is ill or disabled and who is receiving a visit from a nurse.Alternately, the client 110 may be at the job site for a sales call,repair or for delivery of goods. Accordingly, the recipient can be anindividual such as a patient, or a business such as a vendor, when theclient arrives at the site, they call a number corresponding to computer120. The computer answers the call and receives the packets 144 (SeeFIGS. 4A-B) from the client.

The packets 144 contains information concerning the location of theclients 110A-B, the identity of the clients, whether the client 110 isarriving at or departing from the location and what tasks were performedduring the time the client spent at the location. The system can becustomized to provide additional information as desired by employers ofthe clients, or by the system administrators. The computer processes 140combine the information in the packets with databases 134 to producereports 122.

The reports 122 (See FIG. 9) may list the activity of the client bylocation, by recipient, by type of activity, and by duration ofactivity. In an embodiment of the invention the reports may be dailylogs, which list the arrival and departure times of various clients 110,of one or several different companies or divisions, at one morelocations. Where a schedule database is provided, the reports may alsolist which of clients 110A-B were expected to but did not show up at, orspend the proper amount of time at a job site. Alternately, the reportsmay list the work site address, each employee's name, number, employmentcategory, treatment type, etc. The reports 22 can be printed ortransmitted to a remote location. The reports may include payrollreports. Alternately, the reports may be invoices to the recipient ofthe clients services. The reports 122 may be supplied to the client'semployer so the employer can track the deliveries of the client 110 orthe amount of time the client 110 spends with particular recipients. Theemployer can use the reports for payroll and/or for billing purposes.For instance, the recipient can be charged based on the amount of timethe client spent with the recipient or based on the number of tasks theclient performed while visiting the recipient.

FIG. 2 shows details of computer 120. The computer includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 210, general Input/Output (I/O) circuitry 212, amodem 214 and a volatile memory 216. The modem is coupled to the wirednetwork 118A (See FIG. 1) over modem line 132. The modem communicateswith the general I/O circuitry. The general I/O circuitry alsocommunicates with the computer keyboard and with other standard computerperipherals. The general I/O circuitry also communicates with storagedevice 136. The CPU is coupled both to the general I/O circuitry, aswell as to the volatile memory 216. The volatile memory is utilizedduring execution of the program code 146.

The program consists of computer instructions for implementing thecomputer processes shown in the following FIGS. 9A-C. The program code146 also includes instructions for communicating with standard, off theshelf application programs available from various vendors, for example,application programs which control the telephone I/O circuitry 212 anddata base handling software programs.

Modem equipment suitable for use with the system of this invention ispresently provided by several manufacturers. For example suitable modem214 hardware includes, but is not limited to, one or more DIALOGIC 4XX,or 2XX multi-line voice communication system boards and DIALOGIC's MFdaughterboard and DIALOGIC's DTI 124. These boards are designed tooperate with an IBM compatible line of personal computers, or similarcomputer systems, and are available from the Dialogic Corporation ofParsippany, N.J. The DIALOGIC 4XX and 2XX multi-line voice communicationsystem boards relieve a system designer from the tasks of having tofreshly design various software and hardware for communicating overtelephone lines. These boards are capable of handling multiple taskssimultaneously, i.e., simultaneously receiving and processinginformation from a number of telephones. A description of the DIALOGICtelephone and voice communication hardware and software including itsVoice Communications System, Multi-line, Digital Telephoning Interface,and MF Interface boards is contained in DIALOGIC data sheets which canbe obtained by dialing 201-334-8450 or writing to Dialogic Corporation,300 Littletown Road, Parsippany, N.J. 07054. These data sheets areincorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Suitablesoftware for use with the invention includes, but is not limited toVbase/40, which is also available from the Dialogic Corporation and hasbeen used in conjunction with the aforementioned DIALOGIC/40 hardware.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the software modules associated withprocesses 140 (See FIG. 1). Telephone communication module 310, clientidentification module 312, location identification module 314, arrivaland departure identification module 316, time and date stamping module318, service code module 319, and report generation module 320 areshown. The modules are shown coupled in serial order. As will be obviousto those skilled in the art, the modules may be executed serially inseveral arrangements or in parallel. Further, other modules may beincluded, such as a service or task module, which is shown as one of thefields of data included in packets set forth in FIGS. 4A-B.

The telecommunication module 310 is coupled to the PSTN to receivepackets 144 in the incoming phone call from either of clients 110A-B(See FIG. 1). The telephone communication module 310 initializes themodem 214 to enable telephone communications. Incoming packets 144 arepresented by the telecommunication module to the client identificationmodule 312. The client identification module 312 identifies the client10A/B who is calling. The client identification module interfaces with aclient database 134A (See FIG. 1) to match a client biometric parameter,e.g. voice(see FIG. 1, Ref 142 A/B) with a corresponding biometricparameter, e.g. a voice print, in the client parameter database.Associated with each stored biometric parameter is the correspondingcaller/client identification, and other relevant client information (SeeFIG. 5).

The location module may interface with the geographic database 134B (SeeFIG. 6), the PSTN database 134C (See FIGS. 7A-B), and the recipientdatabase 134D(See FIG. 8) to obtain the location of the client. Thelocation of the client may be in the form of a recipients address, astreet address, a longitude and latitude, etc. The arrival and departuremodule 316 determines whether the clients 110A/B are arriving at ordeparting from the recipients address. The time and date stamping module318 determines the time of the phone call and correlates that with theclient identity and location. As previously set forth, other modules maybe correlated with those just mentioned, such as a service or taskmodule, which is shown as one of the fields of data included in packetsset forth in FIGS. 4A-B.

The report generation module 320 creates the reports 122 which mayinclude for example: payroll reports, time and attendance reports,invoices and exception reports. Exception reports include for example,reports as to those calls not authenticated, or calls without acomplementary arrival or departure entry. Exception reports can alsoinclude reports which list those records for which the task codesentered seem inappropriate and possibly fraudulent. For example,computer 120 has access to a database 134 which lists for each task codean estimated time to perform the task. The estimated time to perform canbe compared to the duration of the visit at the call site. If the timeat the call site is much less than the estimated time to perform thenthe record can be placed in the exception report for furtherinvestigation. Thus an exception report can be used to control costoverruns. The report generation module interfaces with the client, PSTNand recipient databases. It may also interface with additional databasescontaining for example client wage rates and federal state and local taxinformation.

FIGS. 4-8 illustrate the data structures for a plurality of databasesstored in the volatile memory 216. These databases can be modified bythe computer 120, or can be administratively modified through use of akeyboard.

FIGS. 4A-B illustrate an embodiment of the contents of respectively afixed/standard phone packet and a mobile/cellular phone packet. Theinformation received need not adhere to a rigid structure, nor includeeach and every field to be discussed. The information shown in FIGS.4A-B is received by the computer 120 when answering an incoming phonecall. The received information data structure of packet 144A for a fixedphone 114 (See FIG. 1) includes a site specific ANI field 412A, a clientidentifier field 416, a biometric identifier 418, a service code field419, an arrival or departure indicator field 420 and a task(s) codefield 422. The site specific ANI field 412A may contain the phone numberof the caller. In the case of a fixed phone this will correlate with therecipient's address, and is therefore site specific. The identifierfield 416 may include information in the form of a numeric sequenceentered by touch tone to identify the caller. The numeric sequence neednot be entered by touch tone only. Instead the user can be prompted byprocesses 140 (See FIG. 1) to vocalize the numeric sequence which willbe processed and converted to numbers by voice recognition processes.Alternately, the first client identifier may be a numeric sequencecorresponding to the clients employer. In another embodiment, the firstclient identifier may be a unique tone generated audibly by a “whistle”possessed by the client and placed up to the microphone of the phone.This whistle could include pitch, tone, and sequence to uniquely,audibly identify the client. Of course the problem with the first clientidentifier, is that it does not authenticate the clients identity.Anyone in possession of the whistle or the employer's name/code or theemployee's name or code can input the code by touch tone pad or audiblyand thus generate a false attendance record in the computer. In anotherembodiment of this invention, the first client identifier is notrequired at all. Instead the biometric identifier is used to identifythe caller/client.

To authenticate a client's identity the biometric identifier 415 isprovided. This field contains information unique to the client such asfor example, a voice print, a thumb print, or an iris print. In the caseof a voice print, no separate field per se is present in the incomingpacket 144A. Instead, a sample of the client's speech is obtained duringthe call session and turned into a voice print for comparison with thevoice prints in the client database to find a match. (See FIG. 5). Voiceprints may be obtained by well known techniques such as spectralanalysis in which the sample is subject to Fourier transformation inwhich the main spectral components and amplitude of the clients speechare sampled. Thumb prints and iris prints may be obtained by externaldevices such as biometric input device 116 (See FIG. 1) which convertsvisual data on the thumb or eye to electronic information and transmitsthat information over the phone line.

The arrival and departure field is an optional field which if providedwill speed up the determination of the sequencing of the call. Theclient may for example indicate when the call corresponds to arrival ata site by pressing the “#1” key sequence, and when the call correspondsto departure by the “#2” key sequence. The task code field is alsooptional and may indicate the category and quantity of work performed atthe site. This in formation also may be entered in the form of keysequences, and is useful in computing charges for work/services productsdelivered/purchased at the call sites 150A-B (See FIG. 1) by therecipients.

FIG. 4B shows the information that may be retrieved in an embodiment ofthe invention when the incoming call is placed from a wireless phone112, or pager with limited call back capability. The information isidentical to that described above in connection FIG. 4A, except forfields 412B and 414A-C. A mobile call, like a fixed phone call, ispreceded with an ANI identifying the calling number. In the case of awireless call, the number does NOT provide information as to location,and thus may be useless to process. Of course if the wireless phone isassumed to be solely in the client's possession then the generic ANI infield 412B may serve as and be substituted for the client identifier416. Because the ANI may not be used to indicate location otherinformation must be provided. That information is provided by complyingwireless carriers and included in the packet 144B at the start of a calloriginating from a cellular/mobile phone. Two possible formats in whichthe information may be supplied are: 1) by a complying wireless serviceprovider, and 2) by a GPS enabled phone, e.g. Garmin NavTalk®. In anembodiment of the invention, the information comprises a received cellidentifier field 414C, a range field 414B and a call site orientationfield 414A. The cell identifier field 414C lists an identifier for thetransceiver picking up the call. The range field 414B gives the distancefrom the cell to the call site 150B, and the call site orientation fieldgives the orientation from the cell to the origin of the call site 150Bin degrees, 0-360. This information is used to define the coordinates ofcall site 150B (See FIGS. 1, 10B). In another embodiment of theinvention, the information provided in field(s) 414 could includemultiple cell IDs and either range or orientation information from eachto the call origin (See FIG. 10A). This also would allow a call originto be determined by triangulation. In still another embodiment of theinvention, the phone company could directly provide the coordinates of acall origin.

In operation, the computer 120 answers an incoming phone call from aclient 110. The computer 120 receives an ANI before the phone call isanswered and then stores the ANI in the ANI field 412. An ANI is atelephone related system and protocol by which the incoming telephonenumber of the calling party is supplied to the called party before thecalled party answers the telephone call. Accordingly, the computer 120can use the ANI to determine the phone number of the phone used to makethe incoming phone call.

When the call originates from a wireless phone 112, the computer 120receives the cell locator and stores it in the cell locator fields414A-C. The cell locator is used to determine the geographic location ofthe wireless phone 112 used to make the phone call. A signal providingthe cell locator information can be provided at each cell 128 monitoringthe phone call. The signal follows the ANI and can be delivered to thecomputer 120 before the computer 120 responds to the phone call.

In operation, the computer 120 can optionally receive a first identifierand store it in the received client identifier field 416. The receivedfirst identifier can be a code entered into the phone keypad. The codecan be unique to a particular client 110 or to a group of clients. Thefirst identifier can be used to define a client database subset limitedto client database rows which include the received first identifier.

In operation, the computer 120 receives a biometric identifier andstores it in the received biometric identifier field 418. The biometricidentifier results from some physiological characteristic which isunique to the client 110. Suitable second biometric identifiers can bederived from the client's voice, fingerprints and retina.

The computer 120 can also receive an arrival or departure indicator andstore it in the arrival or departure indicator field 420. The arrival ordeparture indicator indicates whether the client 110 is arriving at thelocation or is departing from the location. Suitable arrival ordeparture indicators include, but are not limited to, specific codes(sequential key presses) entered into the pad of the phone. Forinstance, a sequence *1 can be used to indicate arrival while a sequence*2 can be used to indicate departure. The entry of the arrival ordeparture indicator can be prompted by the computer 120 as describedabove.

The computer can also receive task performed codes and store them in atask code field 422. The task performed code can be as simple as a codewhich is specific to each task the client performs while with therecipient. For instance, the client can use the phone keypad to enterthe sequence #1 when the recipient was given medication and the sequence#2 when the recipient's bedding was changed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a data structure for a client database 134A includedin the storage device 136. The client database contains records thatallow callers to be identified. Each record of the client databaseincludes a client name field 512, an employer field 514, a caller IDfield 516 and a biometric identifier field 518. The client name fieldlists the name of the client 110A-B. The employer field 514 lists thename of the client's employer. The first identifier field 516 lists afirst identifier. The caller ID can be a code which is unique to aparticular client 110A-B or to a particular group of clients. The callerID can be unique to a particular employer and can be used by all theemployer's clients. The use of a first identifier is optional, andaccordingly, the first identifier column may be left blank. Thebiometric identifier field 518 lists addresses where biometric samplesfor each client 110 can be found. The samples can include addresses forfiles containing voice print samples/patterns, fingerprintsamples/patterns, and iris samples/patterns, retina printsamples/patterns, and ear print pattern/samples. These maybe storedelectronically, optically etc . . . The caller/client ID identifierfield can be used to reduce the number of fields which must be searchedto find a match between a biometric identifier received by the computerfrom an incoming packet 144 and a second biometric identifier listed inthe client database 134A.

FIG. 6 shows several records in the geographic database 134B which isused for determining call origin coordinates/location for cellular phonecalls. Each record of the geographic database includes a street address612, and a corresponding longitude 614, latitude 616 and zip code 618.The records in the geographic may be regional, national or internationalin scope. Once the coordinates of a cellular call origin are determinedthis database allows the coordinates to be translated into acorresponding street address (See FIG. 11B).

FIGS. 7A-B illustrate the PSTN database data structures for respectivelythe phone # and PSTN address database 134C1 and for the wireless # andPSTN location database 134C2. Both of these databases may be included inthe storage device 136.

Each record of the phone # and PSTN address database 134C1 includes aphone number field 712, a subscriber name 714, a subscriber address 716,and a wireless/fixed indicator 718. Given a site specific ANI (See FIG.4A) from a fixed/standard phone call, this database can be used todetermine the address of the call origin. The entries in the databasemay be limited to eligible phone numbers corresponding to known clientsand recipients, or may include all numbers in the PSTN service area.Field 718 indicates whether the phone number corresponds to a cellularphone 112 or a fixed phone 114. In the former case, the subscriberaddress field 716 may not indicate call location since the phone ismobile, while in the latter case it does. Some recipients will not havea phone but will be serviced by a client 110A/B with a wireless phone112.

FIG. 7B illustrates a data structure for a record in the cell number andPSTN location database 134C2, which may also be stored in storage device136 (See FIG. 1). Each record may include a cell Identifier 730 and thegeographic location 732, e.g. address or longitude and latitude, of thetransceiver servicing the cell. The cell identifier is a code which isunique to a particular cell 128A/B (See FIG. 1).

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the recipient database 134D (See FIG. 1).This database is utilized by the location identification module 314 andreport generation module 320 (See FIG. 3). Each record of the databaseincludes a phone number 812, a recipient name 814, address 816, and thename of the service provider 818 for the recipient. The service providerfield is optional. In the example shown, the recipient is a patient,e.g. Patient 1, receiving home health care from a visiting nurseassociation(VNA), e.g. VNA1.

FIG. 9 illustrates the data structure of the records in an embodiment ofthe report 122 generated in accordance with the current invention. Eachrecord includes: 15 a client name field 912, an employer field 914, arecipient address field 916, a recipient name field 918, an arrival timefield 920, a departure time field 922, a time spent with recipient field924 and a tasks performed field 926. The arrival time field lists thetime the client 110A/B arrived at the recipient's address. The departuretime field lists the time the client 110A/B departed the recipient'saddress. The total time spent with client is computed by differencingthe departure and arrival time) and is recorded in field 924. This fieldcan be used to generate payroll, if combined with corresponding wage andtax information. The tasks performed field describes the tasks which theclient performed while the client was with the recipient. In the case ofa VNA different tasks may be reimbursed at different rates. The tasksalso indicate method/manner of treatment which itself may be used togenerate other reports.

FIGS. 10A-B show alternate methods for deriving call origin informationfrom a wireless call based on information provided by the PSTN abouttransceiver location, call range, and/or call origin. Alternatively, thelocation information can be transmitted over a GPS equipped encodingwireless phone, as will be hereinafter set forth with reference to FIGS.12, 13A-B and 14.

A wireless phone call made from a recipient's home 150B is illustratedin FIG. 10A. The signal strength is monitored at the receiving stations128A-C and specifically the transceivers servicing the stations. Thesignal strength at each receiving station is monitored and the stationreceiving the strongest signal services the call. When the caller ismoving relative to the receiving stations, the station servicing thecall can be changed so the call is always served by the stationreceiving the strongest signal. The station can include logic fortranslating the signal strength into an approximate range 1006A-C of theclient 110B from the station. When only range information is provided, acircle is computationally projected around each station. Each circle hasa radius corresponding to the range from the station receiver. The pointof intersection of the circles is the call origin. Using techniques wellknown to the prior art, the coordinates of each station, which arecontained in the PSTN wireless database 134C2 (See FIG. 7B) can betranslated into call origin coordinates. These calculations to establishcall origin can be performed solely on either the PSTN or by the PSTN incombination with processes 140 (See FIG. 1). The location information ispassed by the PSTN in packet 144 to the computer 120. Alternately, whereeach regional wireless locus includes 3 antennas spaced 120 degreesapart only two receiving stations are required to define a location interms of longitude and latitude.

An alternate embodiment for determination of call origin location isillustrated in FIG. 10B. When a receiving station is configured tomonitor range and orientation of call origin, the information providedby a single cell may be sufficient to locate the origin of a call. Theorientation of the caller can be expressed as an angle, θ, relative tosome direction such as North. The receiver 128D can include logic fortranslating the signal strength into an approximate range of the client110B from the receiver 128D. The range 1006D and client orientation canbe used as polar coordinates to calculate a latitude displacement 1016and a longitudinal displacement 1018 of the origin of the call site 150Bfor the client 110B from the receiver 128D.

In still other alternate embodiments of this invention, a globalposition sensor may be used to provide the location of thecaller/client, as will be hereinafter set forth with reference to FIGS.12, 13A-B and 14.

FIGS. 11A-C show processes associated with implementing clientidentification, location identification and duration of staycalculations associated with an embodiment of the current invention.From a start block, control is passed through an authentication routinecomprising processes 1102-1110. Commencing with process 1102 adetermination is made that the next call has been received. Control isthen passed to process 1104. In process 1104 the packet 144 from eithera fixed or a wireless phone (see FIGS. 4A-B) is retrieved. Control isthen passed to process 1106. In process 1106 the phone number of thefixed or wireless phone from which the call is placed is retrieved.Control is then passed to decision process 1108. In decision process1108 a determination is made as to whether the received phone number iseligible for further processing, e.g. is contained in PSTN database134C1 (See FIG. 7A). In the event this determination is in the negative,control is passed to process 1110. In process 1110 the call isterminated. Subsequently control returns to process 1102 for theprocessing of the next call. Alternately if in decision process 1108 anaffirmative decision is reached, i.e. that the phone call is authorized,then control is passed to the next subroutine. In an embodiment of theinvention, call authentication involves checking the phone number of theincoming call against a list of approved phone numbers. In certain areasof the country, ANI is not available for incoming calls and in thisevent the processes associated with authentication may be performedlater on in the processing after, for example, identifying the client.

Control is then passed to the next subroutine and associated processes1114-1124 for identifying the client making the call. In the clientidentification processes 1114-1124 processing begins at decision process1114. In decision process 1114 a determination is made as to whether theincoming data packets contain a first client identifier (see FIGS. 4A-B,field 416). The first client identifier may for example be a touch tonesequence entered by a caller which corresponds to a client ID.Alternately, this sequence may be entered by the caller without usingthe touch tone pad if at the recipient site there is an audible numericrecognition system. The first client identifier may also be a uniquewhistle or tone pattern generated by a device in the possession of theclient and broadcast over the phone line. The client identifier may alsobe a numeric sequence corresponding to the client's employer or serviceprovider. If there is a first client identifier then control is passedto process 1116.

In process 1116 the client database shown in FIG. 5 is filtered so thatonly those entries having a first identifier matching the firstidentifier retrieved in process 1104 remain. Control is then passed toprocess 1118. Control is also passed to process 1118 if a negativedetermination is reached in decision process 1114, i.e. that no firstidentifier is present in the incoming packet. In process 1118 usingeither the whole or the filtered database the biometric data received inthe incoming packets in process 1104 is utilized to determine theidentity of the client making the call. As discussed above, the use ofbiometric data overcomes the security problem associated with merelyrelying on a fixed number sequence to identify a client. A fixed numbersequence is subject to theft and duplication whereas biometric datasuffers none of these shortcomings and is unique to the individualmaking the call. If the person making the call is using an auxiliarydevice, e.g. device 116 for entering biometric data such as fingerprintor iris print then that information is correlated with biometricinformation in the client database (see FIG. 5) to find a correspondingentry. If a stand-alone biometric entry device, e.g. device 116, is notbeing used then biometric data is obtained by taking the user's voiceprint from the incoming packets retrieved in process 1104. That print isprocessed according to any one of a number of well-known prior artprocesses such as spectral or phase or phoneme matching to find acorresponding entry in the client database. Control is then passed todecision process 1120.

In decision process 1120 determination is made as to whether a matchbetween the biometric data and the incoming packet and the biometricdata in the client database has been made. A match is a percentile, withthreshold, conclusion, on the likelihood that the incoming patternmatches one that is stored. The conclusion is reached on the basis of anacceptable degree of confidence that the stored biometric data matchesthe biometric data in the incoming packet 144. In the event a negativedetermination is reached, control is passed to process 1122. In process1122 an exception report is generated which shows those authorizedentries in which client identification was not possible. Control returnsfrom process 1122 to process 1110 in which the call is terminated. Ifalternatively the biometric data in the incoming call matches thebiometric data of a client in the client database then control is passedto process 1124. In process 1124 the client name and employer ID andother information associated with the matching entry in the clientdatabase (see FIG. 5) is retrieved for use in subsequent processes shownin FIGS. 11B-C. Control is then passed to splice block A.

Processing in FIGS. 11B begins at splice block A from which control ispassed to decision process 1130. In decision process 1130 adetermination is made as to whether a wireless or fixed call is beingreceived. This determination may be made on the basis of informationreceived in the incoming packets. The information may, as shown in FIG.7A, be based on the fact that the ANI in the incoming packet 144corresponds to a record in the PSTN database 134C1 which lists thenumber as cellular, e.g. field 718. Alternately, the decision may bemade on the basis of receiver ID, range and orientation information inthe incoming packet 144 which indicates the coordinate origin of thecall. In an embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 4A-B, wirelessphone companies will provide additional information with the incomingcall packets such as shown in FIG. 4B. Alternatively, as will be obviousto those skilled in the art, the wireless service providers may providecall origin location directly either in the form of longitude andlatitude coordinates or street address. Alternately, the wireless phoneproviders may have a unique identifier in the generic ANI field 412B(See FIG. 4B) which identifies the origin of the call as wireless. If adetermination in the affirmative is reached, that the call is wireless,then control is passed to a subroutine for translating position toaddress of call origin. The processes 1132-1142 are associated with thissubroutine. Alternately, if the call is not wireless In origin, controlis passed to processes for translating an ANI directly to an addressassociated with the origin of the call.

Referring to FIGS. 12, 13A-B, and 14, as previously set forth, inanother embodiment of this invention a global position sensor is used todetermine the position of the caller/client. A global position sensor isincluded in a device 1202 which is carried by the caller/client 1204.The global position sensor receives signals from global positionsatellites 1206, 1208, and 1210. Upon receiving signals from thesatellites the global position sensor is able to determine its positionwith respect to latitude and longitude, and if equipped with atransmitter, transmit a code representing the signal as represented by1212. As shown in FIG. 12, the home 1214 has one set of latitude andlongitude coordinates, while the home 1216 has another set of latitudeand longitude coordinates. As shown in FIG. 13B, the device 1202 recordstime and position, and may also record other information such as one ormore biometric parameters, and service type. The device is shown toinclude a central processing unit, random access memory, an electronicstorage medium, global position sensor, clock, fingerprint verification(or other biometric parameter), and an input/output interface. Data isstored in device 1202, concerning time and position of the device 1202as represented by the table set forth in FIG. 14.

The device 1202, carried by the caller/client 1204 is not connected to aphone system each time the caller/client reaches a new location toprovide a service, but rather stores the information with respect tolocation, biometric identifier, time, service type at each location,during the course of a day, week, or other predetermined period. Theinformation is thereafter downloaded to the computer 120 through a modemand a telephone system, or by a direct wired connection to theinput/output interface.

A further example of the device 1202 and its use in accordance with thisinvention is as follows. The device 1202 is physically of the size andshape of a beeper. It contains a global position sensor, anclock/calendar which can not be adjusted by the user without it beingphysically or electronically evident, and a thumb print reader. Uponarriving at a site to render a service, the user presses a thumb on thethumb print reader, which causes the time and a location to be stored asdetermined by the global position sensor. Upon completing the service atthat location, the user again presses a thumb on the thumb print readerto again cause the time and location to be stored. Additional inputmeans may be provided on the device to cause the type of service orother information to be recorded. The recorded data is encrypted,checksummed, and stored in a proprietary format, such that the data cannot be altered by the user. At the end of the day, or otherpredetermined period of time, the user may insert the device into a unitwhereby connection is made between the device and a modem connected to atelephone system to transmit the data to a receiving computer system.Alternatively, a unit can be directly connected to the computer forimplementing the transfer of data from the device to the computer.

In accordance with still another embodiment of this invention, theglobal position sensor may be incorporated in a wireless phone whichincludes the necessary processing circuits to transmit a codeidentifying its latitude and longitude, when also transmitting othercodes indicative of biometric identifier, time, service type, etc.

If the call is wireless then translation of position to address beginsat process 1132. In process 1132 the location information provided bythe wireless carrier in the incoming packet 144B and shown in fields414A-C (See FIG. 4B) is retrieved from the incoming packet. Control isthen passed to decision process 1136. In decision process 1136 adetermination is made as to whether the location information provided bythe wireless company is in the form of a multi-receiver or singlereceiver identification sequence. If a multi-receiver identificationsequence is provided then control is passed to process 1138. If a singlereceiver sequence is indicated then control is passed to process 1134.Information corresponding to a single receiver sequence could forexample include receiver ID, range from the receiver and orientationfrom the receiver as shown in fields 414A-C in FIG. 4B. Alternately in amulti-receiver sequence a plurality of receiver station IDs would beaccompanied by corresponding range or orientation information.

In process 1138 the calculation of a call origin using a plurality ofreceiving station sites is accomplished. If each receiver site isidentified by longitude and latitude and range information to the pointof origin then processing proceeds as follows. Computationally from eachreceiver site a circle having a radius corresponding to the indicatedrange is projected around each of the receiving stations identified inthe incoming packet. An intersection is calculated and the longitude andlatitude for that intersection is determined. Control is then passed toprocess 1140. Alternately if orientation information, rather than range,is provided in the incoming packet 144 for a plurality of correspondingreceiving stations, then processing proceeds as follows. For eachreceiving station a vector corresponding to the orientation informationprovided in the incoming packets is computationally projected. Then theintersection of the plurality of vectors from each correspondingreceiver is determined and a longitude and latitude for that point ofintersection is calculated. Control then also passes to process 1140.

If alternately indecision process 1136 a determination is made that anincoming packet contains single receiver information then control ispassed to process 1134. Single receiver information may for exampleconsist of longitude and latitude information for a single receiver siteand range and orientation information for the call origin with respectto the receiver. Using this information a longitude and latitude isderived for a call origin. Control is then passed to process 1140. Inprocess 1140 the geographic database shown in FIG. 6 is analyzed to finda street address with longitude and latitude coordinates matching thosecalculated in either of processes 1134, 1138. Control is then passed toprocess 1142. In process 1142 the street address obtained in process1140 is utilized to find a record having a matching street address inthe recipient database shown in FIG. 8. Control is then passed toprocess 1152.

If in decision process 1130 a negative determination is reached, i.e.that a fixed phone call is being processed rather than a wireless call,then control is passed to the subroutine for translating phone numberdirectly into address. Processing is conducted in process 1150. Inprocess 1150 the ANI from the incoming packet is matched against phonenumbers in the PSTN database 134C1 shown in FIG. 7A. Alternately the ANImay be compared directly with phone numbers in the recipient data baseshown in FIG. 8. When a matching record is found in the recipientdatabase control is passed to process 1152. In process 1152 therecipient name and address and the associated service provider name fromthe recipient database shown in FIG. 8 is saved. Control is then passedto splice block B.

Determination of arrival and departure times and duration of stay areshown in FIG. 11C. From splice block B control is passed to a subroutineincluding processes 1170-1188 for determining arrival and departuretimes of a client at a specific site. From splice block B control ispassed directly to decision process 1170. In decision process 1170 adetermination is made as to whether an arrival indicator is present inthe incoming data packet. As discussed above, this may be a unique DTMFsequence in incoming call packet such as referred to in FIG. 4A, andspecifically field departure indicator field 420 thereof. If adetermination is reached that there is an arrival indicator then controlis passed to process 1176. In process 1176 a new record is created inthe report shown in FIG. 9. Control is then passed to process 1178. Inprocess 1178 client recipient and employer information obtained inprocesses 1118 and 1152 (see FIGS. 11A-B) is entered into the record inthe report. Control is then passed to process 1180. In process 1180 thecurrent system time is entered into a corresponding arrival time field920 (see FIG. 9) of the new record. Control is then passed to decisionprocess 1190.

If alternately in decision process 1170 an arrival indicator is deemednot to be present in the incoming packet then control is passed toprocess 1172. In process 1172 determination is made by searching thereport as to whether a record having a matching client and recipient andan empty departure time field is present in the report. Control is thenpassed to decision process 1174. In decision process 1174 adetermination is made as to whether there is any matching entry in thedatabase. In the event this determination is in the negative control ispassed to processes 1176-1180 for the creation of a new record in thereport. If alternately a determination is made in decision process 1174that a matching entry is present in the report then control is passed toprocess 1184. In process 1184 a current system time is entered into thecorresponding departure time field 922 (See FIG. 9) of the report.Control is then passed to process 1186. In process 1186 the task codesobtained from the received packet in process 1104 (See FIG. 11A) areappended to the corresponding fields 926 (See FIG. 9) of the record inthe report. Control is then passed to process 1188. In process 1188 therecord is marked as complete in the report. Control is then passed todecision process 1190.

In decision process 1190 determination is made as to whether a user hasprompted for the generation of a report. If that decision is in thenegative then control returns to the start block (see FIG. 11A).Alternately if in decision process 1190 a determination is made that areport needs to be run, then control is passed to process 1192. Inprocess 1192 all complete records are processed and the interval betweenthe arrival and departure time of each record is calculated. When thetime at site information thus calculated is combined with wage and taxinformation the report generated may become a payroll report.Alternately, report generation processes can include the generation ofexception reports to indicate possibly fraudulent task code entries, orto indicate unauthenticated records, or incomplete records. Subsequentto the production of a report, control returns to the start block (SeeFIG. 11A).

While the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferredembodiments and examples detailed above, it is to be understood thatthese examples are intended in an illustrative rather than limitingsense, as it is contemplated that modifications will readily occur tothose skilled in the art, which modifications will be within the spiritof the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for tracking a client, the methodcomprising the acts of: receiving a phone call from the client;receiving, from the client, a biometric identifier resulting from aunique physiological characteristic of the client; comparing thebiometric identifier with a client database correlating clients withtheir physiological characteristics; and selecting which of thephysiological characteristics corresponds to the client identifier toidentify the client.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising theact of: identifying the client correlated with the selectedphysiological characteristic.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the act of: identifying an origin of the phone call.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the identifying act further comprises:identifying a client geographic location of the phone call; comparingthe client geographic location with a database correlating addresseswith geographic locations; and selecting, from among the geographiclocations included in the database, the geographic location whichcorresponds with the client geographic location.
 5. The method of claim3, wherein the identifying act further comprises: receiving an ANI;comparing the received ANI with a database correlating ANIs withaddresses; and selecting, from among the ANIs listed in the database,the address correlated with the received ANI.
 6. The method of claim 1wherein the act of comparing further comprises the act of: receivingfrom the client a client identifier; using the client identifier todefine a subset of the client database; and comparing the clientidentifier with the client identifiers in the subset of the clientdatabase.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the client identifier is acode which is unique to the client.
 8. The method of claim 6, whereinthe client identifier is a code which is unique to an employer of theclient.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the biometric identifiercorresponds to at least one of a group of biometric identifiersconsisting of a voice pattern, a fingerprint pattern, an ear pattern, aniris pattern and retina pattern.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the act of: identifying the address of the origin of thephone call.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the act of:identifying the time of the phone call.
 12. The method of claim 1,further comprising the act of: identifying whether the client isarriving at or departing from the location where the phone call isplaced.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein each physiologicalcharacteristics stored in the client database is a sample of a clientidentifier for the client correlated with the sample.
 14. A method fortracking clients, the method comprising the acts of: receiving awireless phone call from a client; identifying a client geographiclocation of the phone call; comparing the client geographic locationwith a database correlating addresses with geographic locations; andselecting, from among the geographic locations included in the database,the geographic location correlated with the client geographic location.15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: identifying the addresscorrelated to the selected geographic location.
 16. The method of claim14, further comprising the act of: identifying the client making thephone call.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of identifyingthe client further comprises: receiving, from the client, a clientidentifier resulting from a unique physiological characteristic of theclient; comparing the client identifier with a client databasecorrelating clients with their physiological characteristics; andselecting from the client database the physiological characteristicwhich corresponds to the received physiological characteristic so as toidentify the client.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the identifyingact further comprises: determining the geographic location of aplurality of receiving stations which are monitoring the phone call;determining the range of the client from the at least two receivers; andapplying a triangulation calculation to the determined ranges andgeographic locations to determine the client geographic location. 19.The method of claim 14, wherein the identifying act further comprises:determining the geographic location of at least one receiving stationmonitoring the phone call; determining the range of the client from theat least one receiving station; and determining the orientation of theclient relative to the at least one receiving station and calculatingthe client geographic location from the receiving station geographiclocation, the range and the orientation.
 20. The method of claim 14,wherein the comparing act further comprises the act of: calculating thedistance between the client geographical location and at least onegeographic location listed in the database.
 21. The method of claim 14,wherein the selecting act further comprises: identifying the geographiclocation listed in the database which is least far from the clientgeographic location.
 22. The method of claim 14, further comprising theact of identifying the time of the phone call.
 23. The method of claim14, further comprising the act of: identifying whether the client isarriving at or departing from the location where the phone call isplaced.
 24. A method for tracking a client, the method comprising theacts of: receiving a phone call from a client; receiving a biometricidentifier from the client; receiving a client identifier from theclient; and identifying the origin of the phone call.
 25. The method ofclaim 24, wherein the biometric identifier results from a uniquephysiological characteristic of the client.
 26. The method of claim 24,wherein the biometric identifier results from at least one of the groupof biometric identifiers consisting of the client's voice pattern,fingerprint pattern, ear pattern, iris pattern and retina pattern. 27.The method of claim 24, wherein the client identifier is a code which isunique to the client.
 28. The method of claim 24, wherein the clientidentifier is a code which is unique to an employer of the client. 29.The method of claim 24, wherein the identifying act further comprises:identifying a client geographic location of the phone call; comparingthe client geographic location with a database correlating addresseswith geographic locations; and selecting, from among the geographiclocations included in the database, the geographic location whichcorresponds with the client geographic location.
 30. The method of claim24, wherein the identifying act further comprises: receiving an ANI;comparing the received ANI with a database correlating ANIs withaddresses; and selecting, from among the ANIs listed in the database,the address correlated with the received ANI.
 31. The method of claim24, further comprising the act of: providing a client database whichcorrelates clients with client identifiers and samples of clientbiometric identifiers.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the clientidentifier is used to define a client database subset.
 33. The method ofclaim 32, further comprising the act of: comparing the biometricidentifier with the client identifiers in the client database subset.